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If you could have the perfect Mountain Biking Park, what would it be like? How much would you pay to ride there? Do you think you would stay overnight?
Let me know and I'll see what I can do at Mount Snow.
Thanks.
Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 8:37 pm
freerider04
Bomber
Joined: Feb 04, 2004
Posts: 74
Location: Middletown, CT
i would love to see some more freeride-esque trails. as much as i like the fireroads for just letting go, and the singletrack for some sweet technical riding, i would like to see some stunts, more drops, some bridges, etc. i already do stay there overnight with a buddy of mine and his family, and its always a good time. or i just amke day trips.
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Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 3:47 pm
MSEvents
Toy
Joined: May 11, 2004
Posts: 11
I agree Freeride terrain is what would really make Mount Snow great. I'm interested to hear more input. If you agree, let me know. If you don't tell me why. The more voices I hear the better the likelyhood I can make changes.
Re: Your Dream Mountain
Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 6:59 pm
bullitproof14
All-City
Joined: May 12, 2003
Posts: 643
Location: Philadelphia,Pa
U.S. Forrest Service is in charge of Mt. Snow's ability to make new trails. I used to live there and be on their ski race team. (MSA) I aslo got a $100.00 ticket for "operating a vehicle off road" at that shit-hole of a mountain. The one good trail right off of trail # 1 was all that could be great mountain had to offer. Don't even waste your time asking this question, it can not and will not ever happen. Bye the way, are you the jerk-off bald guy that works in the bike shop at Mt. Snow? If so... F' off!!!!
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Re: Your Dream Mountain
Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 8:33 am
MSEvents
Toy
Joined: May 11, 2004
Posts: 11
Wow! Such passion! To clarify a few of your points:
The US Forest Service controls the property above Sommerset Rd. This allows us a great deal of freedom to add features and trails below that property line where the bulk of our mtb trails are located.
As far as the USFS land is concerned, as of this year we have a new forest service representative who is very receptive to new ideas, particularly those coming from the public.
Finally, no I do not work in the bike shop. I am the director of the NORBA race. I am constantly looking for new ways I can better identify what the riders want so that I can make the right changes to our operations.
Re: Your Dream Mountain
Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 9:22 am
Hcor
Site Admin
Joined: Sep 8, 2002
Posts: 3663
Location: New Jersey
MSEvents wrote:
If you could have the perfect Mountain Biking Park, what would it be like? How much would you pay to ride there? Do you think you would stay overnight?
Let me know and I'll see what I can do at Mount Snow.
Thanks.
The "perfect" mountain bike park has pretty much been done....I would go so far to say that Whistler pretty much fits this bill. They have the elevation, terrain, and some of the best trail builders out there. Take a look what they have done to start off.
I personally think the riding must flow, with a good mix of terrain. Most important is a good solid trail network, using the natural features in the best way possible. Anything built (Jumps, Drops, stunts etc.) should be built right the first time...solid and permanent with rider safety in mind. Things can be big and gnar without being suicidal if something goes wrong.
If a Freeride park fits the bill, such as Whistler and Diablo, then people will definatately stay. I am doing Whistler for 2 weeks again this year, and thats coming from NJ. People are coming to Diablo from as far as Michigan and loving it. As for price....somewhere around $30 for a day ticket seems to be the magic number. Anything more than that is very pricey and approaches ski/snowboard rates without the services to go along with it.
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Re: Your Dream Mountain
Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 11:51 am
bigbird
Burner
Joined: Apr 1, 2003
Posts: 207
Location: Connecticut
I agree completely with Hcor. Flow, variety and using the natural elements of the mtn. along with a good trail building team is essential and of course maintenance.
I too have been to Whistler (coming from CT.). They have set the benchmark for what a mtn. bike park should be like, and operate like. It is by far the premeir place to ride.
I have taken many day trips to Mt. Snow to ride for a day. I would definitly stay over night and pay $30 a day if the riding was worth it.
Mt. Snow has a big mtn. and alot of land that they can tap into. if used properly and have it done right, you could end up with a very nice place to ride.
i disagree with bullitproof, trail #1 is more XC then anything... nothing pisses me off more then riding uphill with a DH bike on a mountain.... the lower trails like 3 and 18 i enjoy where its fast single track that leads right into woods sections... if there were more drops and jumps it would be great. i also hate how these beginners on their XC bikes get in the way occasionally. some of the trails already have good basics, add some jumps and with the speed you have already you could have some amazing runs...
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Posted: Sun May 30, 2004 8:19 pm
acair422
All-City
Joined: Aug 20, 2003
Posts: 1365
Location: New Jersey
i was at mt snow last year, and was extremely dissapointed, i mean i saw the norba races etc on tv and on the web and was hoping to find more of that, wat makes a good bike park good is variety etc. mt snow had like two easy as hell single tracks, and then all fire road, nothing else no drops no stunts u need lots of trails with flow etc like diablo and whistler (like the race course u guys use for nationals)
Re: Your Dream Mountain
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:29 pm
davetrump
Bomber
Joined: Dec 30, 2003
Posts: 95
MSEvents wrote:
Wow! Such passion! To clarify a few of your points:
The US Forest Service controls the property above Sommerset Rd. This allows us a great deal of freedom to add features and trails below that property line where the bulk of our mtb trails are located.
As far as the USFS land is concerned, as of this year we have a new forest service representative who is very receptive to new ideas, particularly those coming from the public.
Finally, no I do not work in the bike shop. I am the director of the NORBA race. I am constantly looking for new ways I can better identify what the riders want so that I can make the right changes to our operations.
i have one suggestion for you regarding the NORBA race:
STOP PADDING YOUR POCKETS WITH THE F#CKING PARKING FEE!!!!
it is total bull sh#it for you to charge $10 a day to park... especially since 99% of the people who are paying are racers who have already payed $55 to race. for years it was $5, and even that was a bit silly... but $10 is just obnoxious!!
i think i remember the people in the past years saying that all the money from parking went into trail maintnence, etc...BULL SH#T... show me where the money is going.
YOU GUYS HAD BETTER HAVE REAL NUMBER PLATES FOR THE AMATEUR RACERS... last years card board and magic marker crap was the lowest thing i have ever seen at a race that charges $55 to enter, and $10 a day in parking.
in all honestly the only thing good about your event is the courses... as for mount snow, you guys need to get your sh*t straight
Re: Your Dream Mountain
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:56 pm
Geoff
All-City
Joined: Sep 7, 2002
Posts: 844
Location: CT
davetrump wrote:
i have one suggestion for you regarding the NORBA race:
STOP PADDING YOUR POCKETS WITH THE F#CKING PARKING FEE!!!!
it is total bull sh#it for you to charge $10 a day to park... especially since 99% of the people who are paying are racers who have already payed $55 to race. for years it was $5, and even that was a bit silly... but $10 is just obnoxious!!
in all honestly the only thing good about your event is the courses... as for mount snow, you guys need to get your sh*t straight
yea, $10 a day sucks!
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:06 pm
acair422
All-City
Joined: Aug 20, 2003
Posts: 1365
Location: New Jersey
i MIGHT THINK about paying that, but then again when i went there not during the national event all there was, was a whole bunch of fireroad, very dissapointing and u guys call yourselves the mtn bike capital of the east, diablo kicks yo ass
Re: Your Dream Mountain
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:14 pm
Pip3r
Legend
Joined: Sep 8, 2002
Posts: 5195
Location: Foxboro MA
i think its important to use a mountain to its full ability. You can go and plop skinny bridges to drops anywhere. You cant however build super fast flowy jumps/tech sections in the same trail anywhere. We spend the effort of driving to mountains and paying $$ to get on a lift not to go 5mph over some logs propped up on one another, but to go fast! I like seeing big fast doubles and berms worked into 'normal' mountain bike trails.
as many people here have said Whistler is pretty much the defacto standard theses days, but if you look only 2.5 hours north at Bromont you will seea mountain that is 1/2 your size that is unbeatable in the east.
What makes bromont so great is a large umber of intermediate and advanced trails, Plenty of fast flowy DH singletracks, and a very small number of "stunts" for people who enjoy that kind of thing. Berms are also very key, not only do they reduce trail erosion, they kick as to boot.
It's good to see someone involved with the mountain posting like this, definately a step forward.
Like a few others have said already, Whistler, BC is a textbook example of what a mountain bike park should be. There are some things that would be next to impossible for Mt Snow to reproduce, mainly the Whistler Village, but the mountain bike park itself should be used as a template for the entire world . The trails flow smoothly from top to bottom with berms in every corner, and they are well laid out, not just thrown together. There are trail features that are fun for the best riders and challenging for the rest of us, but with go arounds for those that aren't up to it yet. under every drop is a very well thought out transition that makes even 10ft rocks easy to just ride off of during a run, and things like this are incorporated right into the trail, they aren't something you stop and tromp off into the woods to hit....again, it's FLOW. There's a good mix of tight/twisty/rooty trails and more open fast runs. A-Line is know to downhillers around the world even though it's fireroad wide because it has nicely bermed corners and around 38 table hits from top to bottom! good riders can rip the trail like it's a long dirtjump park and those of us that kinda suck (that's me) don't have to worry too much because the jumps are tables so if we come up short it's no biggie...oh, and lift tickets are like $25/day American
If Mt Snow had a park like this would I stay overnight? Let me put it this way: Every summer for the past 4yrs 3 friends and I have boxed up our bikes and flown them from Boston to Whistler for what started as a 1 week trip and over the years extended to two weeks. I probably wouldn't go to Mt Snow for two straight weeks because like I said, you wouldn't be able to repro the village and such, but if Mt Snow was half the park that Whistler is then I'd have no problem coming up for a few days at a time throughout the entire summer.
If you're a rider, and I hope you are, then I would seriously try to get out to Whistler for at least a couple days as a "research project", it really must be experienced to be understood. If you can't talk the Mt Snow folks into sending you out there then the next best thing is to check our video from our last trip out there:
in regards to the US forest ownership of the top half of the mountain, why don't you look at using haystack for bike trails? from what i understand, you guys own all that land. the lifts are there. what else do you need? true it'd be nice to roll out of the grand summit and hop on the lift, but i'd rather ride fun trails than the stuff offered at snow presently.
and if people are balking about using haystack, i'll say this: you don't NEED huge elevation or steeps. bromont is not a big mountain but everyone i know who's been there totally loves it. steeps can be fun (SR had some nice ones), but it's also nice to let the bike run sometimes.
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. The trails flow smoothly from top to bottom with berms in every corner, and they are well laid out, not just thrown together. There are trail features that are fun for the best riders and challenging for the rest of us, but with go arounds for those that aren't up to it yet. under every drop is a very well thought out transition that makes even 10ft rocks easy to just ride off of during a run, and things like this are incorporated right into the trail, they aren't something you stop and tromp off into the woods to hit....again, it's FLOW. There's a good mix of tight/twisty/rooty trails and more open fast runs. A-Line is know to downhillers around the world even though it's fireroad wide because it has nicely bermed corners and around 38 table hits from top to bottom! good riders can rip the trail like it's a long dirtjump park and those of us that kinda suck (that's me) don't have to worry too much because the jumps are tables so if we come up short it's no biggie...oh, and lift tickets are like $25/day American 